Sunday, June 12, 2011

I placed 5th in a Dragon Boat Race!

OK, so there were only 5 teams. And we looked nothing like the ferocious competitors above. But we were neck and neck with 4th and had a good time! In this video, courtesy of Maria (a fellow Yilan ETA), I'm the 4th person back on the right. 

Dragon Boat Racing is like British rowing except...
a. paddles are free
b. rowers twist the body and do not pull the paddle beyond the hip (our form is totally off)
c. rowing is done to the beat of an awesome drum at the head of the boat
d. competitions have been around for over 2000 years! (The Brits have only been doing it for about 300)

It was an exciting, hilarious and sunny day with my Yilan family, and a nice upper body workout.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great experience, even for the viewers !

Love the start, esp. the "primal yell" with the "up-in-arms-with-paddles" team-bonding. hHahHa

Great team captain/motivator ! "Top 5 Baby!" USA rocks !

-UN

iheartfootball said...

WOW THIS IS MY FAVORITE POST SO FAR! the headline made my jaw drop but you being facetious doesn't discredit how cool this event looks! " it's almost d day" HAHAHA Is that the back of your head in the video?
these adventures make me day dream a lot

Jess / Stew Stew said...

@iheartfootball It's the front of my head! but I'm wearing my bug sunglasses

I'd totally Dragon Boat again! The group camaraderie is infectious and I can coast when I get tired lol